No one can deny this man’s rhetorical power nor his emotional grip on his nation and the world. Tears of joy and hope flowed unabashedly.
There were no cheap sound bites here. And more than once, what he said smacked some of his distinguished guests (G.W. Bush) right in the face of their policies. His position was bold and courageous.
Delivered with “the fierce urgency of now” this was a serious and somber perspective of the work ahead. There was no sugar-coating this “winter of hardship” that finds America in “the midst of crisis”.
While calling on his nation to set aside “childish” things, a reference culled from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, he clearly labeled the new direction of his administration. Not in specific policy terms but without a doubt as a values-driven presidency.
No tactics from this newly minted ‘salvation for our times’. Instead he showed us where the shovels are as he asked for help in beginning “the work of remaking America”. He defined it is a “new era of responsibility”.
To other world leaders he reminded them that “People will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”
Barack Obama is an uncommon man who has given America another great day in its history. His address was a propitious start to a new world order.
President Obama has our selfish best wishes for success for all of us “desire a chance to pursue (our) full measure of happiness”. He may be our best hope but we cannot let him shoulder the burden alone.
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( 3 / 128 )Such is the world Barack Obama hopes for Sasha and Malia, his two daughters, as expressed in a public letter in Parade Magazine.
As a man, father, and President-elect he has raised the bar for himself with this objective. Thankfully, Obama has not played the entitlement card along with it. For as he said, the “unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us”.
While the union he implied is the U.S.A., there are many other relationships we all have that must be viewed in the same positive and engaging way. Whatever country you call your own, whether your offspring are male or female, your role as doctor, lawyer, merchant or auto mechanic, the work ahead is monumental.
To realize the dream he is encouraging all of us, I presume, to push the “boundaries of discovery” that make possible the innovations and technologies that have the potential to improve our lives.
How can you in your many roles and relationships not only seek for yourself but also ensure all have “every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment” that Obama wants for his children?
If his dream is a global vision then it will be his primary responsibility, and ours a supportive role, to change America’s negative perspective of all things bilateral.
We are a community interconnected. The financial crisis all are facing in his inaugural year should make that evident for those who wouldn’t see it before.
“With the privilege of being a citizen”, Obama states, “comes great responsibility.”
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 146 )3 STEPS to SUSTAINING YOUR LIFESTYLE
Thrift and frugality alone are not money management. Good practices but not a lifeline for your personal finances.
Where do you begin the surgery that moves you from a cheapskate role to savvy personal financial planner? It all starts before you take knife in hand.
STEP 1: START WITH A DIAGNOSIS.
What’s wrong? Why aren’t you happy? The anxiety, fear, and the simmering anger about your predicament have identifiable causes. And what about your personal dissatisfaction with what you have and where you are along life’s journey?
Less money to spend, debt, and a highly leveraged lifestyle can contribute to all of the above. So can all sorts of losses; 30% of your investment’s value, your job, your planned retirement, the hope of retirement, the kid’s college fund, your security, your home, the extra money you could once afford for your hobby. If I missed yours it’s an oversight.
The strategy is simple to understand.
Penny pinching, a tight-wad attitude, and cheapskate reactions are about efficiency. Spending just the right amount but no more to get great value at the lowest price for what you absolutely need.
The emphasis is on need although this approach tends to get stretched to everything you want. Buying used stuff is still spending money. Coupons help you save but you still part with some cash. To be sure, saving money on a cell phone plan or an insurance premium are valid practices that make more efficient use of your income. Consumption, however, is still the name of your game. But do you really need all of it? Or just want it all?
Effectiveness of your income, on the other hand, is about where it is directed to achieve your goals and personal aspirations. Big picture vision. Spending less on dry cleaning is an efficiency tactic but it may not be an effective contributor to a satisfying lifestyle at this moment in history.
When you have less to spend or want to conserve what you have for your future security and lifestyle sustainability then the strategy must be different.
STEP 2: ASK YOURSELF; TO WHAT EXTENT DO I WANT THE LIFESTYLE I HAVE?
This forces you to examine your values, what you truly value, and how you feel about what you now have compared to your dreams and personal aspirations.
Don’t get sidetracked here. Remember Freud. He said that happiness is the fulfillment of early childhood wishes. What were yours? A pension, millionaire status, early retirement? I think not.
This is the real belt-tightening, sometimes painful, crunch point. Get serious about what truly makes you happy. Understand that this may not be the same as what makes your partner happy. (Some of you already know this which is why you don’t explore the issue any further! The consequences are just too unimaginable for some folks.)
STEP 3: DIRECT YOUR INCOME TO THE VITAL FEW THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR HEART SING.
Do this with the precision that a surgeon wields a scalpel. Those vital few things that truly make your heart sing, as the cliché goes, are usually inexpensive, sometimes free. Spend with a vengeance on these. And on the relationships they embrace.
Give up spending on much of the rest even at half price. Most of it is crap that makes no lasting contribution to your happiness. It is not the stuff of a meaningful life. And you know it.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 128 )Do the next few years look grim as you weigh the outlook for 2009 and your personal finances?
You are not alone if that’s your view as there is a collective fear griping many who are already struggling with their highly leveraged lifestyle. Your problems are also an integral part of the immediate issues dominating the hearts and minds of those trying to avert a Very Great Depression. (That’s one worse than the dirty thirties.)
THE CHALLENGE: Staggering Odds Against Saving
This is a good news, bad news scenario. And there’s a crazy angle who get’s what.
Oddly enough the odds against saving are the good news. The beneficiaries are all your neighbors, and world citizens. You’re included. This is consistent with the 2009 wish list of every government and treasury officer. They hope all of us will spend ‘til it hurts. Retailers are remembering us in their prayers.
Contrary to countless media pundits and columns extolling the saving virtue and a lifetime of advice from financial planners, economic recovery is dependent on consumers putting out all they’ve got. Forget the fear, baby and spend like your lifestyle depends on it. Perhaps your job. And it just might in the grand scheme of a global recovery.
This is the economic nightmare of the paradox of saving. When all of us save at once (curtail spending) the commercial wheels on which the world financial system rides stop turning.
THE BAD NEWS
The bad news has a touch of realism. As incomes will likely fall, expenses seem to be going up. True, we have enjoyed a small reprieve with the drop in gasoline prices. But for how long? Checked the weights lately of some of the packaged goods you buy. Same price maybe but reduced quantity likely. Government inflation numbers are suspect. Some would say bogus.
With very few of us working at being poor or more important, ‘feeling poor’ it will be difficult to put some money away for something as primary as that emergency fund. You know, that little stash tucked safely away to cover 3 to 6 months of living expenses. It would appear that few have enough for that even if we reduced it to 3 weeks.
And the debatable notions of paying yourself first or saving a fixed 10% seem destined to be abandoned as well. Those who also experience the negative implications of the wealth effect as house prices continue to decline also have another mountain to climb psychologically speaking. Feeling poor drives practices not unlike being poor.
This is the other edge of the economist’s bloody sword; our propensity to consume. It is not in our nature to cut back from a lifestyle we used to have even when we can no longer afford it. What now?
A BETTER PRIZE
There is an alternative, a worthy prize. First, working at being rich and feeling rich through the purchase on credit of all the props that express such a lifestyle has to stop. Even the façade of wealth offered by credit and debt won’t give us the lifestyle we want because our desires are infinite.
What has to start immediately is to identify those elements of your lifestyle, your passion absolutes that you must maintain at all cost. That is what will sustain you in the midst of all you could lose. To make that possible in the months ahead you must reduce or eliminate the trivial many things that simply eat up your income without rewarding you with lasting satisfaction.
Redirect the money from those purchases and activities toward what truly builds your dreams and achieves your aspirations. SPEND WITH A VENGEANCE ON THESE.
While millionaire status is a delightful fantasy it must take a back seat to other priorities as you focus on more realistic chances of a comfortable lifestyle and happiness.
Copyright 2009 William M. MacKay
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( 3 / 123 )As the end of each year approaches I stumble about for something that provides a beacon, an attitude adjustment, from which I will set a course for the New Year.
It could be anything. A single spark of an idea will suffice. Bonfires have arisen from the likes of knowledge, truth, and justice.
I suspect all of us have had enough of their negative counterparts—error, falsity, and injustice—to last a lifetime especially after the year that was.
Thanks to Abraham Lincoln, a fire-starter of great renown, I have been touched by his ‘better angels’, a phrase from his first inaugural address in 1861. His was a time not unlike today.
The better angels of our nature must also find a home in the public policy of our governments and the chorus of our elected representatives. And they must be welcomed into the hearts of every citizen, not counting the cost to ideologies.
For there is a host of vulnerable people across the land who will need all the stimulus we mortals can muster. The gifts of a few angels of mercy may be a necessary hedge to offset the economic inequalities that reason cannot change. Yet, surely, some of what we do must be an act of faith and generosity at all levels of society.
Barack Obama’s response to create the conditions necessary and sufficient to lift the U.S. out of its economic and ethical recession will be a watershed for the global community. Your personal security is dependent on his well-chosen strategies.
We will see soon enough whether the better angels of his nature and administration are flying in formation. Let that be a V for victory over what ails us. Happy New Year.
Copyright 2008 William M. MacKay
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